Senate leaders announced a last-minute agreement Wednesday to avert a threatened Treasury default and reopen the government after a partial, 16-day shutdown. Congress raced to pass the measure by day’s end.

Here’s some local reaction to the news.

Local government

Freeport-area officials weren’t too worried Wednesday even as discussions on avoiding a federal default came down to the wire.

Stephenson County officials said even if the default had happened there wouldn’t have been a direct impact on the local governments or their credit ratings because their loans are underwritten by the state rather than the federal government. However, trickle down impact was a possibility.

“Our credit rating is more affected by the state’s credit rating,” said Stephenson County Administrator John Light. “If the state can’t help out, counties arguably are a subdivision of the state since the state underwrites them. It’s difficult to draw direct lines but not being reimbursed hurts. Also, if the federal government causes consumer confidence to lower, it affects our revenue stream.”

Light said that when residents spend less and the county is given fewer state and federal dollars, it can hurt the county twice as much.

“When revenue is down and we aren’t being reimbursed it paralyzes you at a certain point,” Light said. “We can’t do good financial planning in times like this because it throws things into chaos.”

Local investors

Mark Bretzmann, financial advisor for Edward Jones in Freeport, said that federal government infighting has influenced his client’s attitudes more than their money.

“It’s like nuclear weapons,” Bretzmann said. “No one’s going to use them. It’s unfortunate that they (politicians) decide to use a tactic like that but most investors aren’t surprised. It seems to be par for the course.”

Bretzmann has taken calls from people asking his opinion on the federal government shutdown and default, but he hasn’t detected panic from investors.

“Some clients have actually taken advantage of this volatility and bought stocks for cheaper,” Bretzmann said. “These things become an opportunity that way. I tell them they might regret it a week from now but not two months from now. This whole thing will be a blip on a chart that you barely remember. So is the case with most of these self-created disasters.”